Independent Greeks (ANEL) party president, Panos Kammenos appears less sure about the attitude of the members of his party for the third round of the Presidential elections.
“I am not sure whether all members of ANEL will remain loyal to the party line (to not vote for a President of the Republic), he characteristically said to the Financial Times. “It is difficult, given this situation”, he continued and added that “we must all stick to the anti-austerity mandate the Greek people gave us with at the last election”.
Shortly after the publication of the interview, ANEL spokesman Terence Kouik denied Kammenos’ statements: “It is clearly clarified that the statements made by ANEL’s president do not concern Members of the Independent Greeks, but independent MPs, especially those who, for their own reasons, left the Movement. We once again state that 12 “no’s” are a given in all electoral rounds. The coalition government should be getting ready to set up polls for national elections. They will not be able to avoid them”.
However, the Financial times which have translated the interview themselves write that Mr. Kammenos is certain that his party will return to Parliament with 6%-7% of votes. He does not appear as confident, however, that all party MPs will remain loyal during the final round of presidential elections.
Mr. Kammenos is For early elections because “Greece needs a new economic policy, which will include debt restructuring, as soon as possible… We look forward to a coalition government which will exclude memorandum parties such as the New Democracy party and PASOK, who failed to lead the Greek economy to recovery”, he adds.
At this point the Financial Times mention the country’s debt and comment that Panos Kammenos, like Alexis Tsipras, are of the opinion that Greece must renegotiate a debt deletion. “It is impossible to repay our huge debt. It is not sustainable, despite the opposing views of European partners”, Mr. Kammenos said.
Meanwhile, he unleashed an attack on the government, accusing it of not acting like a real state, but only carry out commands by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
On the other hand, the Financial Times mention the political career of Mr. Kammenos, and comment that he was a deputy minister in a New Democracy government, but left the party in 2012, and now seems unwilling to support the Samaras government.
